TRICHOGRAMMA SPP. (HYMENOPTERA: TRICHOGRAMMATIDAE): FIELD HOSTS AND MULTIPLE PARASITISM IN NORTH CAROLINA

Abstract

Trichogramma spp. were reared from eggs of six families of Lepidoptera and two families of Neuroptera, collected from a variety of host plants in campestral habitats of central and eastern North Carolina. The species collected and frequency among 705 parasitized host eggs (mostly Heliothis spp., Ogdoconta cinereola (Guenée), and Diatraea crambidoides (Grote) or Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner)) were Trichogramma exiguum Pinto and Platner, 610; T. parkeri Nagarkatti, 30; T. pretiosum Riley, 25; T. maltbyi Nagaraja & Nagarkatti, 9; T. minutum Riley, 8; T. nomlaki Pinto and Oatman, 2; T. nubilale Ertle and Davis, 1. Also, 20 host eggs were parasitized by more than one of these species. The data support the generalization that Trichogramma spp. are highly polyphagous and that a number of species occur in close ecological association.